1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a smaller mating force connector assembly having a sliding frame for reducing a mating force between plug and receptacle connectors, particularly to such a connector assembly having a mating force reducing sliding frame which is surely prevented from coming out of the housing of the connector assembly after the complete insertion of the sliding frame into the connector housing. Furthermore, the connector assembly is easily recognized of incomplete mating of the plug and receptacle connectors and is improved in handling of the sliding frame.
2. Prior Art
A conventional smaller mating force connector assembly having a sliding frame has been widely used to reduce a larger mating force between a pair of plug and receptacle connectors mounted with a large number of electrical terminals.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H. 7-135046 has disclosed such a smaller mating force connector assembly shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C.
In FIG. 3A, a smaller mating force connector assembly 100 includes a receptacle connector 110, a plug connector 120 received in the plug connector 110, and a sliding frame 130 inserted into the receptacle connector 110 to couple the connectors together.
The plug connector 120 has four bosses 121 each extending perpendicularly from a side wall of the connector 120. Meanwhile, the sliding frame 130 is formed with four inclined cam grooves 131 each associated with one of the bosses.
As shown in FIG. 3B, the sliding frame 130 is preliminarily inserted halfway into the receptacle connector 110 so that the entrance of each cam groove 131 can align with the associated boss 121 of the plug connector 120.
Next, the sliding frame 130 is further moved into the receptacle connector 110, so that each boss 121 (see FIG. 3A) of the plug connector 120 moves along the associated cam groove 131 of the sliding frame 130 to further advance the plug connector 120 into the receptacle connector 110. Then, as shown in FIG. 3C, the receptacle connector 110 completely receives the sliding frame 130 so that the plug connector 120 completely mates with the receptacle connector 110.
Referring again to FIG. 3A, the sliding frame 130 has a pair of resilient lock arms 132 each of which is engageable with a cut-out portion of a wall of the receptacle connector 110 to prevent unintentional coming-out of the sliding frame 130 after the complete insertion thereof into the receptacle connector 110.
However, the aforementioned conventional smaller mating force connector 100 has the disadvantage that the resilient lock arms 132 do not provide an enough force to securely hold the sliding frame 130. For example, when the connector assembly 100 is applied in a vehicle, the sliding frame 130 which has been fully inserted into the receptacle connector 110 may come out of the receptacle connector due to an impactive force or vibration generated in the operating vehicle.
In addition, when the sliding frame 130 has been incompletely inserted into the receptacle connector 110, the plug connector 120 is not fully inserted into the receptacle connector 110. Thus, in the conventional connector assembly 100, a half mating state of the plug connector 120 is recognized by watching the extension condition of a front plate 130A of the sliding frame 130. However, a slight extension of the front wall 130A of the sliding frame 130 may be overlooked so that an incomplete engagement of the plug connector 120 will be disadvantageously unrecognized.
Moreover, the sliding frame 130 of the conventional connector assembly 100 is not readily held by hand when the sliding frame 130 is positioned near the fully inserted condition since the front plate 130A of the sliding frame 130 has a flat outside surface.